“Pure” — the CBC Drama – Episode 2

I said it succeeded as a crime drama, though I had a number of issues with the presentation in terms of Mennonites.

Source: CBC TV

This morning I watched episode 2. I’m much less certain about the quality of drama. Too many things don’t make sense — why would you make the Ontario drug “boss” someone as highly visible and slow moving as a farmer-preacher with no criminal experience? It boggles the mind.

The visual portrayal of the group is closer to Amish this week, though the women’s dresses do look somewhat “Old Colony.” The bonnets are definitely Amish. The Saturday night “sing” had an Amish feel.

Most Old Order Mennonites and even Old Order Amish use cell phones at time. They are not as ignorant about technology as Noah Funk was. Old Orders draw the line at smart phones, but have used cell phones for business for many years. Low German Mennonites also have no issues with cell phones.

Women do not say “amen” at the end of family prayer before a meal. That’s the role of the head of the family, who is male. Certainly if he is sitting there, the prayer does not end until he says so.

Noah Funk’s “sermon” was wrong on many levels. It must always be tied to scripture, even if trying to make the point about God living within us that he did.

The women working in the drug distribution shop (or whatever it was) is not possible. Married women don’t work away from home. They might operate a business from home, but that scene was strictly for looks.

The young peoples’ singing was nice, and seemed to follow the Amish pattern.

For now let’s change our assessment to an over-the-top crime drama, with limited relationship to any previous “true story.”

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how the true story actually happened? Did the old colony traffickers actually involve other types of Mennonites? I agree the show is rather over the top but I was just wondering if there is anything close to reality in it.

I believe “Pure” is based on multiple incidents of drug smuggling both in southern Ontario and in western Canada. News reports have consistently used terms like “Mexican Mennonites” or Old Colony Mennonites. The vast majority of Mennonites in Mexico are Old Colony Mennonites, but there are other Mennonite groups there that also emerge from the Low German Mennonite culture. The “real” drug trafficking stories have not involved Mennonites that are not Low German Mennonite in origin as “Pure” seems to imply. It is also clear that Mennonite criminal activity occurs in an extremely small part of the community and is not approved by any Mennonite leaders.

While some of it concerns me deeply, of course, I will watch the entire short series. A central concern is whether the series will continue how, too often, mainstream Canadian media portrays Christianity: as outdated, powerless, and with morally ambiguous figures; such a depiction simply reinforces values of secular Canadians, saying the Church has lost the right to call people to conversion. Will preacher Noah and family, in the end, give up their faith or will a chastened leader and congregation continue to serve Jesus Christ? The script is putty in the director and producer’s hands, but given that Jesus, the most important figure in human history, rose from the dead after being rejected, the real value of the Christian Church, and its message and its community, is decided by Him.